Pink of Perfection

You may know Margaret Roach from the editor’s letters she used to write from the helm of Martha Stewart Living magazine. She then became editorial director of all of MSLO, overseeing magazines, books, and web content. And now, she’s out from behind the desk and bad corporate lighting, getting her hands dirty everyday and writing from her garden in upstate New York on her blog, A Way to Garden. Her writing has the same understated, evocative quality that I love in M. F. K. Fisher and Mary Cantwell. How she manages to do so much, to be so generous, and to create so much beauty (and share it), I’m not sure. But I want to find out and then be just like her when I grow up.

Do you think gardening has some of the same meditative qualities as yoga?

Funny you ask that, because I have often said that gardening was my first form of moving meditation, and then came yoga. I try to practice both mindfully; neither one for me is “exercise” or “a hobby,” as that would demean their importance. Certain aspects of gardening that you repeat again and again in a single “practice” (in a single gardening session outdoors) are like the asanas: a series of movements, performed over and again, with a particular alignment and order to them. Think of weeding (bend, pull, toss; bend, pull, toss…) or shoveling mulch or compost, shovelful after shovelful after shovelful (step, scoop, toss…). Gardening (like yoga) is also very much about connection, union…the experience of our inner world connecting with the outer one.

I don’t have an outdoor space but I’d really love to nurture my green thumb. What are the best things to grow in pots in windowsills and on fire escapes?

First, the disclaimer: It’s against the law to garden on the fire escape, or at least to in any way block safe access to it and use of it in case of an emergency. Now that we got that out of the way…yes, many herbs will do in pots, on a sunny windowsill or in a window box, so long as the pots are of a decent size (like 6-inch diameter or larger). Parsley, basil (especially naturally dwarf “bush” types like ‘Spicy Globe’), chives, rosemary, and even thyme and sage will do OK. Bigger containers, like a half whiskey barrel, could support a whole miniature herb garden, really. A little trick: If you like garlic, try growing a few cloves in a pot (even over the winter) to get a crop of “garlic greens,” which you can clip like you would chives to season or garnish salad, egg dishes, etc.

Has writing always been a part of your life? And what do you think about self-publishing on blogs — are you loving it?

I just wrote my short bio and resume for MargaretRoach.com, the gateway into my eventual larger portfolio of activities online and off. The first sentence or two:
“There was little hope of escaping a career in the world of words, being born as I was to a couple of journalists who both also loved to read. The pull was strong enough to sweep in not just me but also my sister, Marion…” So yes, writing has always been my thing, and my family’s thing. Nature and nurture. I have written newspaper articles, books, magazine articles, sections for marthastewart.com…but nothing has been as empowering or astonishing as this medium of blogging. I only wish I had come to it sooner, and were at least a decade younger so I could really master it and have a long career at it. But meanwhile I will try to make up for lost time…

Favorite books?

Classic reference: Wyman’s Gardening Encyclopedia: Dated, wonderful, all you need to know in one chunky hardcover (please disregard any chemical suggestions–he didn’t know better probably). No fancy photos, but all the answers, or practically. A classic guide to living for me: A Path With Heart, by Jack Kornfield, longtime Buddhist teacher. A must-read for everyone. More escapist, perhaps, and newer than either of those: Birds in Fall, by Brad Kessler, a recent novel about the aftermath of a plane crash but with an ornithological riff.

What’s your ideal day look like?

I like to do many things at once; I am a grazer both when eating and working. So I have my cup of black tea early, and start on multiple things (writing, paperwork for my business, gardening in the season, bird-watching year-round), catching myself staring out the window a lot or into space if outdoors, and I generally flutter from thing to thing till I fall down in a heap. That’s basically my life story.

What’s your go-to, quick weeknight meal?

Baked potato with butter, salt, and a can of vegetarian baked beans on top. True. My English heritage showing, I suppose (ask in any pub for “jacket potato with baked beans”). Or baked beans on toast (again, butter, please). Or baked potato with cottage cheese (and yes, butter). Or pizza–homemade, with my own garden-grown tomato sauce and pesto on it, the crust also from scratch from Nick Malgieri’s Neapolitan Pizza recipe from How to Bake. I quarter the pre-baked pizzas and freeze them, then just pop one “slice” in the oven at suppertime, so one pizza-making yields eight suppers. Or just crackers and cheese and gherkins…in fact, I probably eat more of that combo than anything else.

Mmm, I think cheese and crackers make one of the best meals ever. Favorite movies?

Pulp Fiction. McCabe and Mrs. Miller. Mean Streets. As Good As It Gets. Once. Truly Madly Deeply. Moonstruck. (I am so bad at recalling movie titles, but these, at least, are in my head.) If we extend to BBC series, I will watch anything with Robson Green, or Helen Mirren, and lately devoured multiple seasons of the original English crime drama “Cracker” with Robbie Coltrane. Frankly I am far more seriously addicted to music than to movies…but you didn’t ask that, did you?

Well, why don’t I? What are you listening to these days?

Oh, my..I am (as ever) a grazer, and frenetic. My standards are Leonard Cohen, Al Green, Lucinda Williams, Neil Young, Bob Dylan, Johnny Cash, Willie Nelson (oh, and a dozen others whose work I also have every drop of, like John Prine, John Hiatt, Van Morrison, Nick Lowe and…and…). I like Keith Richards when he goes country (and as a Rolling Stone). I like Teddy Thompson (and his parents). Alison Kraus lately, especially with Robert Plant.

I like songs that make me laugh, like Bill Kirchen’s “Get a Little Goner” (“If you’re gonna get gone, get a little goner…”) and Jean Knight’s “Mr. Big Stuff,” (“Mr. Big Stuff, who do you think you are?…”) and “These Boots Are Made for Walking” (particularly the cover by Velvet 99).

I like songs that make me dance, like Kemo the Blackican’s “La Receta” or anything Tina Turner, especially early stuff with Ike like their hot version of “Stormy Weather.” I like Motown Girl Groups, and am glad to hear this sound coming around again.

I like any version of the song “You Are My Sunshine,” and have many. I collect songs from around the world and through the ages that have the word “hallelujah” in them (or its variations, like alleluia). And then I like to listen to WFUV, from Fordham University, and other alternative-ish stations on my Sangean wifi radio, and get newer stuff, like Great Lake Swimmers, Nicolai Dunger, Josh Ritter, Alejandro Escovedo, Ray LaMontagne, Joseph Arthur, Architecture in Helsinki, Brett Dennen…so many I cannot keep track. Eclectic, usually about love done in or love in bloom (more the former than the mushy stuff). Singer-songwriter, with emphasis on the lyrics.

Blues, too (more Muddy Waters and Willie Dixon than now). And vintage Pablo Casals cello solos. And I have gone on forever and could keep going. The iPod is full. If I hadn’t started blogging I’d have more music; that was my previous favorite thing to do on the Mac: make music mixes.

Favorite flowers?

Alliums, the ornamental onions, probably. So insane looking. I’m am more of a foliage and fruit person than a flower girl, especially big, bold foliage that brings a hint of the tropics to my cold-zone garden, and fruits meant not for humans but for the birds.

What’s the best thing about leaving the corporate world?

Top benefit: Living in my garden for the first time in the 20-plus years I have been making it–waking up every day and looking out at it. And not ordering lunch ever again in midtown. And grazing all day, as I said, like a high-calorie-burning kid, up and down to the fridge that’s full of food I cooked or at least that I like (unlike all those midtown takeaway spots).

What’s one dream you have for your life?

Love, love, love. To love my new work, to love my garden, to love some great new guy who’s showing up any day now I think (tee hee). Or as David Byrne says in some song or other of his: “Peace, love and monkey business.”

After a day in the city, when I step out from the mouth of the subway onto Brooklyn pavement, I can feel my shoulders unfurl and my breath get deep. For all of New York’s annoyances (and there are plenty), I love my neighborhood and its million delights: the constant baby parade, the dogs, the husband-and-wife-team restaurants, the creative buzz, the trees with leaves that fall to the pavement and get slick in the rain, the brownstones, the lovely little shops. And while I am mourning the loss of Rare Device, I have some new Brooklyn loves I wanted to share, all of which you can appreciate whether you live in the nabe or not:

D. S. and Durga has some very fancy colognes for both ladies and gents, but its their facial toner that has my heart. The tonic is one maharanis have used for ages; all I know is that it makes my skin super soft and makes me feel like a very down-to-earth princess.

Buttercup & Ivory makes beautiful embroidered linens with a sense of humor. I’m loving the formal place setting tablecloth on which you could serve Chinese takeout or linen coasters with wine spills that take the pressure off.

The soaps from Red Hook shop Saipua are lovely and the hand-stamped paper they come wrapped in even lovelier. But what I truly love are the lush, romantic flower arrangements and the pictures on owner Sarah’s blog that give a sense of the pretty, charming details in her world.

Do you read A Chicken in Every Granny Cart? If you don’t, you should. Ann’s blog captures all the nuances and big, grand vistas of living in Brooklyn with her lovely pictures, great stories, and recipes you want to gobble right up. None of them know it yet, but I totally want to invite Ann, Valerie, and Cathy over for supper.

Two things I want to know: Have any of you ever met blog crushes in real life? And what do you love about where you live? I’m all ears.

I have a major girl crush on Cathy Erway. Fed up with brunches that give you two little poached eggs in return for a hard-earned hamilton, Cathy resolved to not eat out, not ever, and started writing about it on Not Eating Out in New York. That alone, as an exercise in anti-consumerism and Girl Scoutish self-sufficiency, is reason enough for me to love her blog dearly. But Cathy also writes in this droll voice that makes me want to invite her over, get her drunk on old-fashioneds, and make her spill all her secrets. I settled for the next best thing: sending her questions over the internet and profiling her on Pink of Perfection.

It’s hard to walk to the corner in New York without running into a
restaurant, a push cart, or a take-out joint. So why Not Eat Out?

I ask myself that all the time. But really, I thought it would be a fun project or “fast” to test out, and I wanted to see how easily or not easily it could be done. It might not be practical for everyone, but I’ve benefited enormously through it all, from figuring out how to braise beef cheeks to eating more healthfully for myself and for the environment to saving tons of cash.

What’s been the most unexpected result of not eating out?

That it became so routine. Sometimes my friends ask me if I order the occasional “cheat” take-out when I’m just home alone, and I think — why would I ever do that? I’d much rather grab a nice cut of steak, or good wedge of cheese or something really exciting at a shop instead and make something wonderful out of it. Maybe I just enjoy cooking too much.

I’m always trying to figure out things to cook for dinner that feel
totally luxurious and restorative but are as fast as ordering in. What are
your go-to weeknight meals?

This is sort of what I was talking about with buying one or two really good, luxurious ingredients, like a ripe avocado, or steak, maybe some crusty bread, and doing what you will with them. But for my go-to weeknight meal, I’ll say a stir-fry with rice. I make them with any combination of ingredients, the most common perhaps being chicken and broccoli. This stuff really takes me back to my childhood. It’s simple to throw together and makes good leftovers, too. Another good one is pizza — get the dough from your local pie shop, raw, and throw some fresh mozzarella and whatever else you want on it.

What are some of your favorite Brooklyn destinations for eating, not eating,
imbibing, buying things, looking at things, walking, etc…?

Lately, it’s been Prospect Park, where I like to ride circles around and then flop on the grass. I like making a special trip to DUMBO, to see what’s in the art galleries and bookstores there, hang out at the waterfront, buy some baking chocolate at Jacques Torres, and imbibe at Superfine. Ditto for Red Hook, switching Baked bakery for the chocolate (or some other goodies), the bar to Sunny’s, and if there’s time, adding a shopping trip to Fairway Market.

What’s your ideal day look like?

Probably doing all of the above. And then making an elaborate feast with friends and bringing it to a nice spot outdoors — parknic!

What song is totally making your commute/exercise/scrubbing the tub a
rollicking good time?

Raw Ramp by T. Rex, a bonus track on Electric Warrior. I’ve been listening/dancing to it with friends so much it’s not even funny anymore, and nobody can figure out why it’s called Raw Ramp.

Maybe T. Rex has a thing for spring onions? What books are you your bedside table right now?

I’m reading Revolutionary Chinese Cookbook: Recipes from Hunan Province by Fuchsia Dunlop right now. It’s the province that my grandparents were from.

So I’m not the only one who reads cookbooks in bed! What blogs can’t you get enough of?

I check out what Deb is cooking at Smitten Kitchen all too frequently; I read Apartment Therapy, especially the kitchn, and Serious Eats often, too. Makes me wish I were a whole staff of bloggers instead of my little, time-constrained self.

Man, do I hear that. What’s one dream you have for something you’d like to do in your life?

To do a year’s worth of research/eating/learning to cook in Taiwan and then writing a book about Taiwanese cuisine.

That’s a book I would definitely buy.

I’ve been nervous for over a week now. Since Shauna asked me if I would be part of her virtual book tour I’ve been shaking in my boots. It’s like when the yoga instructor asks you to demonstrate a headstand, and you’re like, “me? show you?”

And then the book arrived and it sat, looking glorious, on a kitchen chair for a couple of days. You must understand: I’ve been in awe of Shauna pretty much since I knew she existed. She lives and writes with the sort of open-armed gratitude that renders me speechless and brings tears to my eyes. I know, I know, corny. But how else are you supposed to react when someone honors the holiness of the mundane? She is the person who could never let a good cup of coffee, a sunny day, or an egg pass without mention and thanks. And when huge, big, amazing things like book deals happen to people who so appreciate the small stuff of life? That’s what brings the tears.

But Shauna’s not precious or holier-than-thou about living gluten-free, or really, about anything. I hate to sink to the potty jokes because the book is much more than that — honest, educational, and eye-opening — but this had me cracking up during the evening commute home after a long and, well, shitty day:

“Whole grains help you poop.

Whole grains and other sources of dietary fiber do not break down in the bowels the way other foods do, since they are insoluble. That means they cannot be dissolved by water, which is also floating around in there. Some part of that fiber is left, undigested. As the fiber moves through the system, it pulls water and other foods with it, like a pied piper of poop. This is how your body creates a cohesive bowel movement, that kind that leaves you feeling satisfied and healthy.

There’s no way around it–everybody poops. But we’re afraid to talk about that bodily function in this country. We have been trained to believe it’s rude. Some of you may have been shocked to read the previous paragraph. But is a fact that we need to poop, and poop well. “

And given that, could you believe that this woman can also write about her first artichoke in a way that makes you think of M.F.K. Fisher eating her first oyster? To a seventh grader in Southern California, that threatening-looking vegetable tasted like “early mornings, after a long hard rain.”

Shauna writes about all her vegetables (and olive oils and grains and fruits and cheese, oh, the cheese,) like this, with the most sensuous awe. She writes about her farmer’s market with utmost reverence. And I guess that’s what happens when you’re sent to the farthest edge of illness, hunched over with pain and in total body shut-down for months. When someone finally tells you something about yourself that you never knew: you have celiac disease, you don’t waste one moment thinking about what you’re missing. If you’re Shauna, bless her, you just climb right aboard and make it back to the other side of heath, exuberant, grateful, and gluten-free.

When I first found One Hour Craft, my heart leapt. What creative person in our modern rush wouldn’t love a blog filled with simple craft tutorials that can be accomplished in 60 minutes or less? As an added bonus, One Hour Craft founder, Maria (Mia) Binns, writes with a sweet, encouraging voice nudging her readers to seek out pleasure and make the most of the time they have. This sort of thing being just my of cup of tea, I wrangled Mia into our first Pink of Perfection Profile. I hope you enjoy this new feature, and please pass on your picks for future interviewees in the worlds of crafts, cooking, design, and lifestyle.

What inspired you to start One Hour Craft?
I was inspired to write OHC to provide crafty and people who don’t yet know
they are crafty with an easy way to kick-start crafting. In this day when
almost everyone is run off their feet, I think it is still possible to find
an hour to craft, and if not an hour, then fifteen minutes a day for four days! I figured that there were people like me who just don’t have the head space for long projects at the moment but love making a load of different things and love not only the process, but producing something. By the overwhelming response the site has seen I am convinced that there are plenty of ladies (and some men) who are in the same position as me.

Continue reading “Maria Binns from One Hour Craft” »

Natalie Zee Drieu is one of those people with boundless creative and organizational energy who leaves the rest of us astounded and a wee bit envious. Not only does she run her own style blog, Coquette, but she also contributes to the Make blog and is the Associate Editor at Craft and the brains behind their blog (which is always chock-a-block with amazing ideas and inspirational projects). Did I mention Nat’s also a total sweetie? She somehow had the time to interview me, and you can read the whole thing here. Thanks so much, Nat!

I was very flattered when Inner Ocean Publishing wrote to ask if I was interested in receiving Kimberly Wilson’s book, Hip Tranquil Chick. I said yes in a jiffy, of course, and then promptly forgot all about it.

Fast forward to the dark days of December. I am frazzled from endless to-do lists and taking poor care of myself. One evening, I find Hip Tranquil Chick in my mailbox. It is as welcome as an early visit from Santa.

If you are like me, you are seduced by the promise of self-improvement and the notion that we are always able to become better versions of ourselves. With her little hot pink book, Kimberly Wilson puts thousand-year-old yoga principles into your hands and shows you to how to apply those tenets to every aspect of your modern girl life.

Continue reading “Hip Tranquil Chick” »

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On her popular blog the Wednesday Chef, Luisa tests recipes from the New York Times and Los Angeles Times food sections. It’s an idea I’ve loved since the moment I first became a loyal reader of her elegant, playful prose. When I asked Luisa to be a Guest Cook on Pink of Perfection, I had no idea I would become so enamored of her cozy kitchen in Chelsea, her wonderfully warmhearted nature, or that gorgeous face of hers. I also didn’t know I would be eating bison.
Continue reading “The Wednesday Chef: Bison with Smoky Wild Rice” »